Back
by GreenCalenWen
Summary: This is sort of the sequel to 'Snapdragons.' Rosie reflects on her life with Sam. "Does he wish to follow Frodo? Go into the Grey Havens and fool death? Will he be truly happy then? Back with Frodo…back…" please r/r!


~*~DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the below-mentioned people, and even most of the events come from things I've read on/by JRRT. Plus, thanks to all six of you who reviewed my last short, "Snapdragons"! hopefully more will review this time ;p – 'c ~*~

**BACK**

Two years have passed in their serenity. Two years, such a short time in a lifespan yet such a blissful eternity. For many things have happened. Many things…We have a child now, Sam and I. Our little hobbette. Elanor. Elanor the Fair, for her hair is cornsilk like that of the elves, only curly like her father's. He loves her dearly. Thankfully, for I'm quite big with another. I sit sometimes, watching them play in the gardens here at Bag End, reminisce about the time when we would fool around together. He's so happy, he has a new little girl to play with now. He loves her so…

Yet still pain remains ever-poignant in his heart. For these two years have brought other happenings as well. Frodo has left, his memory kept alive so fervently by my Sam. I can still recall the day two years ago, sitting with baby Elanor on my lap, awaiting Sam's return. He had rode with Bilbo and Frodo to the Havens. The Grey Havens, shrouded in mystery for us Hobbits, a land beyond life, beyond death. When I finally saw him coming back, so much joy…joy…in me. He smiled at me, his shy smile, and took Elanor in his gardener's arms. "Well I'm back," said he. Back…

I wonder occasionally if he is truly happy. He still brings me snapdragons as I touch the silver ring on my finger, but it is plain that the stinging pain of his journey will stay with him forever. I guess I have always hoped that I could ease it. I cry, watching his own silent tears mix with the dirt he digs, holding onto his memory of the Ring, clutching onto his last connection with Frodo, and feeling the strain of the cursed thing on his shoulders. And I wonder, what has he come back for?

He bears my ring now, the last of the great Ringbearers. He lays with me now, not in a horrid wasteland. He's told me little of his adventures still, yet they surround him, I read them off his face like a book. He's been there, helped save the world, yet remains a simple hobbit. Does he wish to follow Frodo? Go into the Grey Havens and fool death? Will he be truly happy then? Back with Frodo…back…

He shades his eyes to his pain, holds me close, kisses me like for the first time in the garden, the snapdragon garden. That was the start of our adventure together, and I want it to continue…

The moon shines her swollen belly on my own, illuminating the drops of sweat on the pulsing bulge. The midwife strokes my hand and whispers me encouragement, yet all I want is Sam. He waits outside the rusty-hinged door, I can feel his heartbeat, yet hobbit custom stays him. There's another heartbeat closer, this life within me, calling, coming out of its bloody capture, into the new world. With each of the life's calls I scream my own. My pain for pleasure, this child is crawling its way out of me…

And then the world stops spinning, and my body stands still. My eyes are closed, but I can still hear the cry of this life, this being Sam and I have created, as we both open our own eyes to the world the living live in. The midwife smiles gently, "'Tis a baby boy, a lovely boy." And Sam is in the room, back beside me…back…

He picks up the infant…and I almost swoon with joy. I look into my Sam's eye, that has seen heartache and horror, but now looks upon the head of his own son, and love is in his eyes. The little hobbit has Sam's dark eyes, but his hair is darker still, not Sam's gold, not even my own chocolate, but more like…

"Frodo," Sam says quietly. "His name shall be Frodo." And he looks at me, and smiles at me, and lays baby Frodo in my arms. His eyes are now filled with joy and love, and he leans closer, rests a rough-yet-gentle hand on our son's curly head, and kisses me. The room escapes again, like the time he gave me the ring, and the moon smiles on us, and he's back, my Sam is back…back…

…For me.

_~*~FIN~*~_

_please r/r!!_


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